Are You Unbundled?

On the most recent podcast of All Songs Considered, Bob Boilen noted that the Red Hot Chili Peppers have finally agreed to sell their music on iTunes. Why is this news? Because the Chili Peppers have until now objected to allowing consumers to "unbundle" the band's music by purchasing individual songs rather than the entire album.

While it's not clear yet how much of an impact the availability of individual tracks is having on album sales -- though music sales from online digital stores like iTunes now exceed those made in traditional bricks and mortar stores -- what is clear is that the unbundling of the music track is just the latest example of how technology is fragmenting and atomizing the production, distribution and consumption of media. Some other examples of the unbundling of media include blogs (unbundled news), vlogs (unbundled television) and podcasts (unbundled radio).

While it is natural to bemoan the impact of unbundling on traditional media, the flip side is that unbundled media or, micromedia, is generally more personal, more portable, more shareable and more consumable than macro-media. What's more, as Ricky Gervais, Saturday Night Live and Rocketboom have proven, micromedia is inherently viral. This is all great news if you are a creator, producer or distributor of content.

So, let's all pause and pay our respects to the album, the newsaper and the traditional television and radio show. They have served us well. But, if you are interested in having your content shared, distributed and consumed, start today by unbundling it into its simplest discrete form -- or, as Fred Wilson says, "microchunk" it -- and allow your consumers to easily access it, mix it, tag it, customize it, search it, store it and share it.

Oh yeah, and then blog it!